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In high school, if you asked me what the best book I’d ever read was, I probably would have said “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Alex Haley.
Because of documentation Jonathan Eig uncovered in the process of researching the newly released book “King: A Life,” which looks to be the definitive telling of the life of Martin Luther King Jr., it seems as if a big part of what I found so compelling about Malcolm X may not be wholly accurate.
I’ve been wrestling with whether or not this matters. I think it must, but how? Why?
As reported in the Washington Post by Gillian Brockell, when doing his King research, Eig discovered that a famous interview of King by Haley published in Playboy in 1965 had been presented in ways inconsistent with the unedited transcript, which made King seem much more opposed to Malcolm X’s view of the struggle for Black equality.
A quote from King accusing Malcolm X of “fiery, demagogic oratory” was likely fabricated by Haley.
This and other alterations resulted in the drawing of a sharper contrast between King and Malcolm X, but as Eig told the Post, the original transcript “shows that King was much more open-minded about Malcolm than we’ve tended to portray him.”
I’d been raised on the story of MLK as the secular saint of nonviolence who had been martyred for the cause but was the example all should follow. I knew short snippets of his “I Have a Dream” speech and had dutifully read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in multiple English classes.
But after reading Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” in high school, I was Team Malcolm because it felt like for the first time someone gave me the full story of the contemporary problem of racial apartheid in America, rather than a sanitized story.
At the time, looking around at my nearly all-white suburb in Ronald Reagan’s America, I was sympathetic to Malcolm’s point of view. I did not see progress, and the sanctification of MLK seemed like an attempt to turn away from the responsibility to continue to redress wrongs. It seemed like we were being told that it was sufficient to just acknowledge MLK as a great man and voilà! Racism solved!
Early reviews of Eig’s MLK biography suggest that perhaps for the first time, we are going to have access to the full story of King. I look forward to reading the entire thing.
As is widely known, and as Brockell notes in the Post, Haley has previously been exposed as a plagiarist and fabricator. His most known work, “Roots” is properly viewed as a work of “faction,” true events mixed with inventions designed to make the story as compelling as possible. What if he’s done something similar in “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”?
I am not an absolutist on this front and recognize that memoir, history and biography may take liberties with the strict record in order to convey a higher truth, but in this case, Haley has clearly distorted reality in a way that makes it less interesting.
Rather than being opposites, MLK and Malcolm were instead two sides of the same coin. King’s sanctification by the white majority is sometimes used to discredit Black activists pushing for greater tangible action, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. They imply that MLK, the gold standard of civil rights, would not approve, relying on this myth of MLK’s disapproval of Malcolm X as evidence.
But if that evidence doesn’t exist, surely, we must reconsider some of what we’ve long believed.
That’s what I’m doing, at least.
It’s a good reminder that history can be as unsettled as the present.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea” by Sarah Pinsker
2. “The Road to Wellville” by T.C. Boyle
3. “Citizen: An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine
4. “The Book of X” by Sarah Rose Etter
5. “Temporary” by Hilary Leichter
— Cassie B., Central New York
Jim Shepard is a writer who has a lot of fans in certain circles, but who has never managed to break out to a wide readership. It’s a shame, as he’s a uniquely perceptive writer. For Cassie, I’m recommending “The Book of Aron.”
1. “Happy Place” by Emily Henry
2. “The It Girl” by Ruth Ware
3. “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver
4. “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich
5. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
— Liza P., Denver
A mix of romance, suspense, upmarket and literary fiction, which makes me think Liza will be happy to read anything as long as it meets a threshold of quality. How about a nice domestic drama that has its share of wit sprinkled throughout? “Mrs. Fletcher” by Tom Perrotta.
1. “The Remains of the Day” Kazuo Ishiguro
2. “Amsterdam” by Ian McEwan
3. “Foe” by J.M. Coetzee
4. “10:04″ by Ben Lerner
5. “The Idiot” by Elif Batuman
— Nila T., Miami
This list makes me think that Nila might be a good fit for the autofiction of Rachel Cusk. She should start with “Outline.”
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com